Tag: disney

hey there everyone! It’s another Monday and summer is finally coming to an end, so that means fall and all things spooky is upon us. Since last week Thursday, August 9th was the 49th birthday of the spooky house, I decided we should really dive into the Haunted Mansion and its cult following.

As most of you know by now I worked at Disneyland, and I had the honor of working as a maid for the haunted mansion. While it is a dream of some to be able to put on those itchy and uncomfortable iconic costumes, I wasn’t quite sure if I was in love with this costume or just the character I was able to play in it. Let’s start with the history of this place, During Halloween you can take a paid guided tour and learn all about the history and concept of the haunted mansion, you get a cookie and even a ride on the ride without waiting its pretty cool and informative, if you really like the Haunted Mansion it’s definitely something to look into.

History

The Haunted Mansion wasn’t always going to be a big stately manor in the heart of New Orleans square, originally Walt had the idea of an old run down, scary looking house at the end of Main Street. It was supposed to be a walking tour of the house, where maids and butlers would show you the house and discuss the previous owners who are as some may know as the sea captain and his wife. After many revisions and ideas thrown out they decided on a ride rather then a walk through museum tour. During all of Walt’s turmoil of trying to find consistent theme for his dream he didn’t like the idea of anything in his park not looking clean and family oriented. Once all the imagineers decided on where they were going to put the attraction they decided on an old plantation looking house, it was clean like Walt wanted, but still had a spooky feeling.

In 1963 the imagineers were able to put the facade of the mansion up, but the actual attraction it self sat empty from 1964-1965 because Walt and the imagineers were busy with the New York’s World Fair. After Walt’s death in 1966 everyone returned to the Mansion, including Rolly Crump and Yale Gracey, to finally finish this project. They were able to take ideas from the Worlds Fair like audio animatronics, and the ride vehicle system later named, “doom buggies” and implement them into the attraction. After years of hard work the Haunted Mansion finally opened on August 9, 1969 astonishing guest with all the ghostly mischief it has to offer. The Mansion was such a big success that the imagineers had already started working on a Haunted Mansion for the Magic Kingdom in Florida. Today every Disneyland around the world has a Haunted Mansion attraction, they’re all different in their own unique ways.

My Experience

Whenever you learn a new attraction at Disney, your training lasts 3 days, that includes every position of the ride, and reading the Operating Guide (OG). At the Haunted Mansion there can be anywhere from 6-14 people working the attraction at any given time, and you need to be able to preform every position efficiently and safely. Once you finish all your training, and you pass your PA, you’re ready to start working alone at all these positions. While some positions you’re surrounded by other cast members, like at load you always have at least one more person with you making sure guest are safe and following the rules. But when you work unload you’re all by yourself while this might not sound too safe because guest don’t always follow the rules, Disney gives you a mirror so you can see if a guest hops back into a buggie while you’re helping other people.

The Haunted Mansion is supposed to give off an eerie feeling like someone is always watching you, or cold chills. This same feeling is very much present walking in the back stage areas in the house as well as when all the working lights are on and you’re doing a final or opening check list of the ride. The one position I absolutely hated was unload, and this wasn’t until my 3rd or 4th shift in the mansion. One day we had to stop the attraction because a guest dropped their cane in the graveyard scene, everyone that was able to get off the ride had already past and the lead had already ran through the ride to get the cane. I’m standing by the buttons to re-start the ride, when something grabbed the back of my cape I was wearing. I looked at the mirror in front of me to make sure no one ran down the exit ramp, and I walked over and checked all the empty buggies by me, and no one or anything was there. I started up the ride and went about the rest of my shift pretending like nothing happened.

(me sitting at the Oregon from the dance scene in the mansion)

While I wish that was the only time I had an experience at the Mansion, I had 1 more that really sort of scared me. There is a position in almost every long dark ride called Tower, this person sits at a desk a watches all the monitors for the ride. During high peak times or grad nights, you’re constantly hitting a button to spiel into the ride, such as:”please remain seated,” “No flash Photography” “shut up” you know the usual things to make sure all guest are safe and enjoying the ride. Most of the time next to the Tower area there is a Lead desk so if anything unusual happens you can tell the lead and they can handle it, also this is a safety position, you’re not aloud to leave the monitors unattended. This one time I was cycling the cameras and I stopped on the grave yard scene because a lot of people like to stand up and knock on there friends buggie in front of them to give them a good scare. Inside the graveyard the track of the ride is lined with pressure mats that if stepped on or someone drops something the whole ride will stop and it’ll pop up on the monitors. I was watching the monitor when I saw a child jump out of his buggie and ran into the buggie on the next camera. So I immediately hit the ride stop button and switched cameras to see the buggie the kid had jumped into, once I switched cameras their was only 2 adults in the buggie no child. Then I realized the ride didn’t automatically stop from the pressure mats being stepped on, That’s when I started yelling for a lead or anyone to come help me, I had no idea what to do, that’s when the calls from load and unload started coming in asking if everything was ok. I was so in shock that I just said yeah, pressed the spiel button and started the ride back up like nothing happened.

When I finally had the courage to tell some of my co workers what had happened they said, “Oh yeah, that’s the little boy who’s always here, sometimes he’s crying. But he just likes to play tricks on people.” so nonchalant like they’ve seen it all the time. Apparently their is also an old man in the mansion that likes to hangout at unload as well and play with the girls hair.

I never really believed that people dump ashes of their loved ones at Disneyland, until I started working at the Mansion. The most common places that ashes are scattered in are Fantasyland, Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion and believe it or not The Winnie Pooh Ride. I have encountered ashes a handful of times while working for Disney. Once inside the Winnie the Pooh ride while I was doing a walk through, and a few times in the mansion. Ashes look like white sand with big clumps, but seeing it in person if you’ve never seen it before looks sort of like when you dump a pixy stick out, I know I’m sorry I just ruined that candy.

One of my favorite parts about working at the mansion has to be the iconic costumes, maids and buttlers. I loved dressing up everyday, putting on red or dark lipstick, winged eyeliner, as long as you were in character you could break the Disney standard of dress code, but just for that attraction. My favorite part of the costume was my bat hat, that was my favorite costume piece I had ever had while working for Disney, like everyone else I named my bat buddy Lillian, but not after Walt’s wife, after Lillian Munster from the family sitcom The Munsters. I absolutely loved that show so it was fitting to name my partner in crime bat Lillian.

being in character was not that hard for me when it comes to sarcasm and dark humor, although it was sometime hard not to smile when it came to little kids, but with all the stupid comments from older men it became easier to just roll my eyes and look the other way when they would say, “you’d look prettier if you just smiled.” one of the sayings I’ve learned to hate so much.

I absolutely love my fellow cast memebers, there was never a moment I doubted if they had my back when it came to irate guests. That’s something I’ll never forget about Working at the mansion, the sense of family and community, if you were ever having a bad day someone was always there to talk to, and I was always there for someone when they needed something. When my husband was deployed they would always ask me how I was or how he was. Some of them would make plans to go to Disney or just out to keep my mind off of not being able to talk to him. It was so nice and reassuring to have so many people by your side.

I hope that this post is something you really liked to read about when it comes to Disney I know there’s a lot of stories and misconceptions especially around the Haunted Mansion and why it’s a fan favorite. I also hope you liked reading about my own experience working in the infamous mansion. till next time, like Madame Leota says,

It’s Monday! you know what that means, Magical Monday! time to get rid of the awful case of the Mondays and replace it with the magical world of Disney! Todays topic, in honor of the brand new Christopher Robin movie coming out on Friday, is the amazing ride at both Disneyland and WDW( Walt Disney World) The Amazing Adventure of Winnie The Pooh!

(some pictures in this post are mine and some were found on google. these are my opinions, and experiences.)

While some of you may know The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh was the first attraction I learned in Disneyland, so it holds a very special place in my heart, and I absolutely love Winnie the Pooh! Piglet and Stitch are my all time favorite Disney Characters.

(my mom and I before work one day.)

Just past the Haunted Mansion of New Orleans Square is a small country side, where the animals have control of the land, known as Critter Country, where you’ll find your laughing place at Splash Mountain and you’ll be able to celebrate a Lil’ Old Bears birthday in the Hundred Acre Woods. A lot of people have no Idea the Winnie the Pooh ride is back in Critter Country, unlike WDW where you’d find the hundred acre woods in fantasyland.

(entrance at WDW)

It seems like Winnie the Pooh and friends are great at evicting previous owners of their land. In WDW him and his friends evicted the ever popular Mr. Toads Wild Ride, this was a very controversial move on disney’s part because the attraction was a favorite among passholders and wasn’t lacking in attention. While Mr. Toad and friends are no longer an attraction in WDW’s Magic Kingdom, Through out the Winnie the pooh ride you’ll still find Moley and Mr. Badger (not sure his real name) in pictures, handing the deed over to Owl in a picture. There’s also a gave stone of Mr.Toad in the pet cemetery at the haunted mansion in liberty square.

While in Disneyland Pooh and the gang have evicted the Country Bear Jamboree. A lot of people don’t know they replace the Country Bears, or they had no idea the Country Bears were ever there. A big question a got while working there was, “where’s the Country Bear ride?” when I would explain they retired to Florida a lot of people would be upset. But just like the ride in WDW they were able to sneak in a few things from the previous owners of the property. If you look back in the Honey Heaven Scene you’ll be able to see the Max, Buff, and Melvin hanging out on the wall watching Pooh Bear eat his Hunny.

Not only is the thereming of both Winnie the Pooh rides different, but the queuing area is also very different, Disneyland is a very plain, follow the ropes and the people in front of you, a very basic line. The line in WDW, like almost all the lines there is very interactive, there are play areas for the kids, a little gardening area kids can play and not get restless, as well as a touch screen honey wall to make the hour long wait seem very short.

I absolutely Loved working in The Hundred Acre Woods, the only part I didn’t like was the down times. In order for the ride to get “sticky stucky in honey,” or break down a series of events were to happen.

1 would be a fire, which never really happened while I was there thank goodness, it was usually a faulty smoke alarm.

2 An “unusual show condition” which means the characters weren’t working the way they’re supposed to.

3 A “Hepa” or someone spreading ashes, which happens more then it ever should.

4 Most likely there’s too many “Beehicles” on the track and the cast isn’t moving fast enough and it back ups and shuts down.

While most of these problems are cycled out, so no one has to go into the ride and walk people out, except for number 4. All These problems are completely avoidable except for the technical problems. So please be kind to the cast members, there sole purpose isn’t to ruin your vacation, its to create as much magic possible and you’ll catch more bees with honey then with vinegar. So if you see a ride down it’s one of those 4 reasons, but they’re never gonna tell you which one it is, or when it’ll be coming back up because they have no idea.

I hope you enjoyed this little look into the world of Disney and Winnie the Pooh, I know I’m really excited to see the movie and I hope this post either informed you alittle on the rides or just made you excited about the movie.

So I know no one likes Mondays like ever! So I’ve decided to start something hopefully a little magical to your Mondays with a little bit of Disney! Who doesn’t love Disney?

I know it’s not Monday (thank god!) it’s Friday! But every day is a good day to talk about Disney in some way. So today I’m going to start my Disney series with my input on Pixar Pier! (this is my own opinion and I’m obviously not getting paid for this)

all these pics on my blog are all taken by me and edited by me.

Pixar Pier is very photogenic, lots of bright colors and a lot to see! I was lucky enough to go opening weekend, and it was too crowded and I cant wait to go when Star Wars land opens so I can experience everything this pier has to offer without that many people. I wasn’t able to try out all the food and drink options because honestly like everything in Disney, It’s expensive! I was able to try the caliente churro from Senior Buzz churro cart. It wasn’t what I expected, I honestly don’t know what I expected. The churro was very red and they pack the cinnamon surgar on to the churro so much so that I had to scrape a little bit of it off because it was making my tongue numb. It tasted like a red hot candy, it took me about an hour to eat this churro, and it turned my figures red. But it was a very interesting experience, probably wouldn’t have it again but it was interesting.

Now probably the hardest thing to do on the pier is the new Incedicoaster. My family and I decided to pay for the MaxPass which is an extra $10 on top of your ticket cost. The benefits of the Maxpass is access to good fastpass times for almost every ride in both parks, and you don’t have to be in said park. So say you’re in Disneyland and you have a park hopper ticket and you upgrade to a Maxpass you can access fastpasses for DCA without stepping foot in that park. Another benefit is you get to download all the picturs you take in the parks from both rides and photopass photographers which was really cool. But anyways we were lucky enough to ride the incredicoaster. The ride itself is the same as California Screamin’ but it now has a story. The incredibles family is trying to catch Jack Jack, which if you seen the new movie incredibles 2 you know how hard he is to catch because of his newly developed powers. The tunnels in the ride feature statues, lights and amazing graphics to help include you in the story including, what I think is the best part, the smell of Jack Jack’s cookie num num. I absolutely love the new over lay to a classic DCA attraction.

The next attraction that got a face lift was the Pal-O-Round Ferris wheel there’s nothing really that new besides a new entrance decoration and they painted the gondolas with Pixar characters. Over all I really don’t care for this ride just because I’m afraid of heights and Ferris wheels, the swinging gondolas are in my opinion the scariest things I’ve ever been on.

Going back to food I was lucky enough to get into Lamplight Lounge and while I didn’t get to go downstairs to experience the full atmosphere and the full menu. I was just happy to be there. Upstairs where the cove bar used to be is still part of the lamplight lounge. While I was there the opening weekend you couldn’t make any reservations, but now on the Disneyland app you can reserve dining there, which is amazing and I highly recommend it! We got the Piggy Wings, and the Carne Asada Roll. The Piggy Wings are little pork ribs in a spicy bbq sauce, They were so good! i couldn’t get enough of them. The Carne Asad Roll was like a california roll, but instead of crab they put steak, which if you know me I’m a very picky eater and I hate sushi. But this was pretty good, I probably wouldn’t get it again but it was pretty good. As for drinks I got a non-alcoholic drink called the 2319, it was pineapple, strawberry slushy with coke poured in it, not that great but I had to get it for the name alone. My mom got an alcholic drink called the Sequel. It was very strong with dried ice at the bottom that made it bubble. that’s all I remember about it. But if you really miss the Cove Bar and those Lobster Nachos, don’t worry they still have them. Over all I’m excited to go back to the lounge and try they’re full menu, and experience the atmosphere of down stairs.

Now the Pixar theme is all around both parks right now do to Pixar Fest that runs through September 3, so don’t forget to check out everything Disney has to offer including parades and fireworks geared toward Pixar. And not to mention all the little Easter eggs around the parks, and so so many food options. And like I said its Disney so if you want to eat and try everything it’s going to get expensive. But I have to say my favorite part of the pier is definitely the little billboards as you walk down the pier.

But I have to say when you’re leaving the Pier they have a little something to remind you to keep exploring and looking for new adventures. It made my heart so happy to see the saying as you leave this new re imagined area.

Thanks for reading and I can’t wait to post another Magical Monday! in the words of Mickey “See Ya Real Soon!”

I grew up in Southern California, 30 minutes away from Disneyland, and about 20 minutes away from Knott’s Berry Farm. I was fortunate enough to have season passes to both parks growing up, and the joy of working for both companies. My first job I ever had was working rides in camp snoopy at Knotts’. I also worked there seasonally as a scare actor for Halloween Haunt for 3 years. As you read in the “about us” section I also worked at Disnyland for sometime, when I was first hired there I worked in the “Wilderness Explores” area in Disney’s California Adventture (DCA). And then I was fortunate enough to work in the “Haunted Mansion” and “Winnie the Pooh” ride in Disneyland.

I met my husband Josh when I was halfway done with cosmetology school, through a mutual friend. we met when he was on leave from the navy. We got to hangout and get to know each other for a week before he went back to Japan. Once he went back, I was very skeptical about if and how we could make this work. we texted, called and face-timed every chance we got, even though I was in the middle of exams to pass and get my license, we made it through. He’s such an amazing person and im so lucky and blessed to have him as my better half. Josh always does the unexpected, He flew home and surprised me on my last hair show exhibit, making everyone of the girls in my class including the teacher cry.

Josh was home for about a month before he was stationed in Bremerton, WA. In that month we went to Disneyland as much as possible and spent so much time together. When he left it was hard, not only because he was gone but because the house I grew up in foreclosed and I was homeless. My parents moved up north to Sacramento to live with my brother and his family, while I could’ve gone with them I decided to stay and start my Disney career. I lived with my best friend, who also got a job at Disneyland working the same area. It was the first time I ever lived so far away from my mom and dad, I cried almost every night thinking I made an awful decision to stay when everyone I loved was so far away.

Once a week, if not more, Josh would facetime me and we would watch a movie over Netflix together. It was so much fun and it helped me get over my fear of if I did the right thing. I was very fortunate that not only was Josh stationed state side but that when he would go on deployments he would dock in San Diego for a weekend every other month. When he made port we would hangout and explore San Diego, we loved old town and the Whaley House was beyond creepy.

In December Josh Surprised me again, but this time on my birthday. Two days later with our families we visited our favorite place Disneyland, where he proposed to me at Minnie’s house in Toon Town. and of course I said yes!! a day later we drove up to the Sequoia National park where I saw snow for the first time, and spent about 3 days playing and getting lost in the snow and the beauty of the Sequias. After all the fun of Christmas Josh went back up to Bremerton and got ready for his big 9 month deployment. This was going to be the longest and hardest deployment for us. Not only was I not able to talk to him as much, a few emails here or there and he was able to call once a month, but I had to plan our wedding.

The wedding was amazing and beyond perfect I was very fortunate to have my parents move back down to help me with pretty much everything and to keep me sane. We got married on January 21,2017 at The Red Horse Barn in Huntington Beach, Ca surrounded by our friends and family. Our honeymoon was spent at Walt Disney World, a dream come true for us! We have always wanted to be able to go and experience the magic, my parents were very generous and helped us pay for the trip, we loved every minute of it!

Coming back from our honeymoon and back to reality, I went back to work and Josh went back to Washington. In March I said goodbye to my amazing Disney family, and traveled to Washington to start our happily ever after. I lived in Washington for 2 weeks before my anxiety and depression set in and I had to go back home. I was very scared that i wouldn’t be able to handle Washington, it was vastly different from California, so when we made our move in May it was easier then I thought to fall in love with another state.

We had a home in base housing, started to unpack our things and made friends. One thing we decided we needed to do was take care of my brain tumor, so we went to the doctors got a referral to UW medical center. once there we met with a team of amazing doctors that specialize in pituitary tumor removal, so we set a date for surgery. The day came and I had a very successful surgery everything looked good, everything was healing very well no spinal fluid leaks, no scaring. I did my routine blood work and it came back with high levels of prolactin, which is how we found out I had a tumor in the first place. I still have some form of the tumor, but ill get more into that in another post.

My husband and I have been on a roller coaster these past few years, but as long as we have each other I’m positive we can get through anything life throws at us.

I cant wait to share with everyone all of our adventures and projects in this new chapter of our life… (lots of disney!)